Invasive plant workshop slated for March 18

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 3:00 PM

The Chippewa Luce Mackinac Conservation District is working with their partners at the Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development (UP RC&D) Council to sponsor an educational workshop in Mackinac County to help educate residents and local officials about Phragmites.

This non-native, highly invasive perennial grass, also known as common reed, has spread rapidly over the past several years into the Great Lakes coastal zone, interior lakes and wetlands, riparian corridors, and roadside ditches by both natural and human-driven dispersal mechanisms.

Invasive Phragmites can negatively affect the biodiversity and ecological functions of invaded habitats, impair the recreational use of wetlands and shorelines, decrease property values, and increase fire risk. These infestations occur on adjacent private and public land in the UP, and if control efforts are to be successful, a collaborative approach will be necessary. The most effective management and control techniques typically require a combination of methods and a long term commitment.

The UP RC&D Council was successful in securing a $458,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help combat the Phragmites problem throughout the Upper Peninsula, and will be relying on assistance from local conservation districts and other partners to help in the implementation of this project. Grant funds will be used to map all locations of non-native Phragmites throughout the entire Upper Peninsula and treat a minimum of 400 acres of coastal shoreline and wetlands for two years.

Landowners, local officials and the general public are invited and encouraged to attend the workshop where they will find out how to identify Phragmites, learn about the biology of this plant and mechanisms of infestation, find out about the most effective methods to control this invasive plant, and learn how they can participate in this project and give their permission to have the Phragmites on their own property treated as part of this project.

A public workshop will be held in Mackinac County on Monday, March 18, at 6 p.m. at the Clarke Township Community Center, 207 Blindline Road in Cedarville. For additional information about these meetings, contact Nick Cassel at (906) 635-1278 or e-mail nick.cassel@macd.org.

The same information will be presented at meetings in Delta, Schoolcraft, Menominee, and Dickinson counties during the week of March 18-21. For the schedule of those meetings, or to obtain more information about the project, or to learn more about non-native Phragmites, go to www.phragmitesintheup.org, or email the project coordinator at phragmites@uprcd.org.